This thesis deals with the special education department of Suðurland College (Fjölbrautaskóli Suðurlands) and is based on the findings of an action research conducted during the school year of 2010-2011. The aim of this study was to create a basis for a school improvement program in the special education department that supports well-founded and professional educational development. This was done by looking into a) the state of the life skills teaching and in what way it can be improved, b) the students’ social relationships and means to support those and c) the attitude towards the special education department, collaborative teaching and educational development. Fourteen participants took part in the study: 11 students and 3 teachers. The data was collected using interviews and written data.The findings of the study indicate a general satisfaction with the teaching in the special education department and the way it was conducted. There was also a general satisfaction with the life skills teaching. There was a variety in the students’ social relationships and the students bonded within their own groups as well as in their elective courses. The collaborative teaching of the life skills course was generally perceived as mostly enjoyable and the participants’ attitude towards its introduction was positive. The teachers were positive towards educational development. Numerous ideas of reform were introduced by the participants. The research process was instructive and gave me a new outlook on the future of the special education department. The final product of this thesis is a proposed developmental assignment which entails a changed mode of teaching as well as a collaborative learning of teachers of special education departments. Findings during the time of the research made it necessary not to limit the developmental assignment to the life skills course alone; it initially centres on a reformed planning of the special education department and then proceeds to encompass effective educational development based on the findings of the research and a new national curriculum for the upper secondary schools.